In the Pāli
Canon, the majority of discourses focusing on the five
aggregates discusses them as a basis for understanding and
achieving liberation from suffering, without describing
relationships between the aggregates themselves.[14]
Nonetheless, from some canonical discourses, a causal relationship
between the five aggregates can be derived.[15] The
following (illustrated in the figure to the right) exemplify such
relational attributes:[16]

Form – in terms of an external object (such as a sound) and its
associated internal sense
organ (such as the ear) – gives rise to
consciousness (viññāṇa).[18]

The concurrence of an object, its sense organ and the related
consciousness (viññāṇa) is called "contact" (phassa).[19][20][21]

From the contact of form and consciousness arise the three
mental (nāma) aggregates of feeling
(vedanā), perception (saññā) and
mental formation (saṅkhāra).[22][23]

The mental aggregates can then in turn give rise to additional
consciousness that leads to the arising of additional mental
aggregates.[24]

In this scheme, form, the mental aggregates,[25]
and consciousness are mutually dependent.[26]

Other Buddhist literature has described the aggregates as
arising in a linear or progressive fashion, from form to feeling to
perception to mental formations to consciousness.[27]

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Parts of a
chariot

In the Samyutta Nikaya, the Buddha is recorded
as saying that "just as the word 'chariot' exists on the basis of
the aggregation of parts, even so the concept of 'being' exists
when the five aggregates are available."[28] Thus
just as concept of "chariot" is a reification, so too is the
concept of "being." The same analysis is applicable to the parts of
the chariot; they too are unsubstantial in that they are causally produced, just like the chariot as
a whole.[29
] The most explicit denial of the substantiality
of the components of the being in the early texts is one that was
quoted by later prominent Mahayana thinkers:

All form is comparable to foam; all feelings to bubbles; all
sensations are mirage-like; dispositions are like the plantain
trunk; consciousness is but an illusion: so did the Buddha
illustrate [the nature of the aggegates].[30]

Nagarjuna used ideas
of this kind in the agamas to refute the Sarvastivada
conception of reality.[29
] The simultaneous non-reification of the self and
reification of the skandhas has been viewed by some Buddhist
thinkers as highly problematic.[31]

In the early texts, the scheme of the five aggregates is not
meant to be an exhaustive classification of the human being: rather
it describes various aspects of the way an individual
manifests.[32] The
chariot metaphor is not an exercise in ontology, but rather a caution against
ontological theorizing and conceptual realism.[33] Part
of the Buddha's general approach to language was to point towards
its conventional nature, and to undermine
the misleading character of nouns as substance-words.[34]

The skandha analysis of the early texts is not applicable to
arahants. A tathāgata has abandoned that clinging to the personality
factors that render the mind a bounded, measurable entity, and
is instead "freed from being reckoned by" all or any of them, even
in life. The skandhas have been seen to be a burden, and an enlightened individual is one
with "burden dropped".[35]

Theravada
perspectives

Bhikkhu Bodhi
(2000b, p. 840) states that an examination of the aggregates
has a "critical role" in the Buddha's teaching for multiple
reasons, including:

Understanding the Four Noble Truths: The five
aggregates are the "ultimate referent" in the Buddha's elaboration
on suffering (dukkha) in his
First Noble Truth (see excerpted quote below) and "since all four
truths revolve around suffering, understanding the aggregates is
essential for understanding the Four Noble Truths as a whole."

Future Suffering's Cause: The five aggregates
are the substrata for clinging and thus "contribute to the causal
origination of future suffering."

Release: Clinging to the five aggregates must
be removed in order to achieve release.

Below, excerpts from the Pāli literature will bear out Bhikkhu
Bodhi's assessment.[36]

Suffering's ultimate
referent

The Noble Truth of Suffering [dukkha], monks, is this: Birth is suffering, aging is suffering,
sickness is suffering, death is suffering, association with the
unpleasant is suffering, dissociation from the pleasant is
suffering, not to receive what one desires is suffering—in brief
the five aggregates subject to grasping are suffering.

Prior to the Buddha, the Pali word khandha had very ordinary
meanings: A khandha could be a pile, a bundle, a heap, a mass. It
could also be the trunk of a tree. In his first sermon, though, the
Buddha gave it a new, psychological meaning, introducing the term
clinging-khandhas to summarize his analysis of the truth
of stress and suffering. Throughout the remainder of his teaching
career, he referred to these psychological khandhas time and
again.

In what way are the aggregates suffering? For this we can turn
to Khandhavagga suttas below.

In the early texts, the skandhas explain what suffering is.
According to Noa Ronkin, "What emerges from the texts ... is a
wider signification of the khandhas than merely the aggregates
constituting the person. Sue Hamilton has provided a detailed study
of the khandhas. Her conclusion is that the associating of the five
khandhas as a whole with dukkha indicates that experience is a
combination of a straightforward cognitive process together with
the psychological orientation that colours it in terms of
unsatisfactoriness. Experience is thus both cognitive and
affective, and cannot be separated from perception.

As one's perception changes, so one's experience is different:
we each have our own particular cognitions, perceptions and
volitional activities in our own particular way and degree, and our
own way of responding to and interpreting our experience
is our very experience. In harmony with this line of
thought, Gethin observes that the khandhas are presented as five
aspects of the nature of conditioned existence from the point of
view of the experiencing subject; five aspects of one's experience.
Hence each khandha represents 'a complex class of phenomena that is
continuously arising and falling away in response to processes of
consciousness based on the six spheres of sense. They thus become
the five upādānakhandhas, encompassing both grasping and all that
is grasped.'"[39]

Future suffering's
cause

The Samyutta
Nikaya contains the Khandhavagga ("The Book of
Aggregates"), a book compiling over a hundred suttas related to the
five aggregates. Typical of these is the Upadaparitassana
Sutta ("Agitation through Clinging Discourse," SN 22:7), which
states:

...[T]he instructed noble disciple ... does not regard form
[or other aggregates] as self, or self as possessing form, or form
as in self, or self as in form. That form of his changes and
alters. Despite the change and alteration of form, his
consciousness does not become preoccupied with the change of
form.... [T]hrough non-clinging he does not become agitated."
(Trans. by Bodhi, 2000b, pp. 865-866.)

Put another way, if we were to self-identify with an aggregate,
we would cling (upadana)[40] to
it; and, given that all aggregates are impermanent (anicca), it
would then be likely that at some level we would experience
agitation (paritassati), loss, grief, stress, or suffering (see dukkha). Therefore, if we want to
be free of suffering, it is wise to experience the aggregates
clearly, without clinging or craving (tanha), apart from any notion
of self (anatta).

Many of the suttas in the Khandhavagga express the aggregates in
the context of the following sequence:

An uninstructed worldling (assutavā puthujjana)

regards: form as self; self as
possessing form; form as in self; self as
in form.[41]

lives obsessed by the notions: I am form; form is
mine

this form changes

with the changes of form, there arises dukkha

An instructed noble disciple (sutavā ariyasāvaka) does
not regard form as self and so on, and thus when form
changes, dukkha does not arise. (Note: in each of the suttas where
the above formula is used, subsequent verses replace "form" with
each of the other aggregates: sensation, perception, mental
formations and consciousness.)

Example of Aggregate-Clinging

To give a simplistic example, if one believes "this body is
mine" or "I exist within this body," then as one's body ages,
becomes ill, and approaches death, one will likely experience
longing for youth or health or eternal life, will likely dread
aging and sickness and death, and will likely spend much time and
energy lost in fears, fantasies and ultimately futile
activities.

In the Nikayas, such is likened to shooting oneself with a
second arrow, where the first arrow is a physical phenomenon (such
as, in this case, a bodily manifestation associated with aging or
illness or dying) and the second is the mental anguish of the
undisciplined mind associated with the physical phenomenon (see the
Sallatha Sutta[42]).

On the other hand, one with a disciplined mind who is able to
see this body as a set of aggregates will be free of such fear,
frustration and time-consuming escapism.[43]

But how does one become aware of and then let go of one's
identification with or clinging to the aggregates? Below is an
excerpt from the classic Satipatthana Sutta that shows how
traditional mindfulness practices can awaken
understanding, release and wisdom.[44]

Release through
aggregate-contemplation

In the classic Theravada meditation reference, the "Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta" ("The Foundations
of Mindfulness Discourse," MN 10), the Buddha provides four bases
for establishing mindfulness: body (kaya), sensations (vedana),
mind (citta) and mental objects (dhamma). When discussing mental
objects as a basis for meditation, the Buddha identifies five
objects, including the aggregates. Regarding meditation on the
aggregates, the Buddha states:

How, monks, does a monk live contemplating mental objects in
the mental objects of the five aggregates of clinging?

Herein, monks, a monk thinks, "Thus is material form; thus is
the arising of material form; and thus is the disappearance of
material form. Thus is feeling; thus is the arising of feeling; and
thus is the disappearance of feeling. Thus is perception; thus is
the arising of perception; and thus is the disappearance of
perception. Thus are formations; thus is the arising of formations;
and thus is the disappearance of formations. Thus is consciousness;
thus is the arising of consciousness; and thus is the disappearance
of consciousness."[45]

...Or his mindfulness is established with the thought, "Mental
objects exist," to the extent necessary just for knowledge and
mindfulness, and he lives detached, and clings to nothing in the
world. Thus also, monks, a monk lives contemplating mental objects
in the mental objects of the five aggregates of clinging.
(Nyanasatta, trans., 1994.)

Thus, through mindfulness contemplation, one sees an "aggregate
as an aggregate"—sees it arising and dissipating. Such clear seeing
creates a space between the aggregate and clinging, a space that
will prevent or enervate the arising and propagation of clinging,
thereby diminishing future suffering.[46]

As clinging disappears, so too notions of a separate "self." In
the Mahasunnata Sutta ("The Greater Discourse on Emptiness," MN 122), after
reiterating the aforementioned aggregate-contemplation instructions
(for instance, "Thus is form; thus is the arising of form; and,
thus is the disappearance of form"), the Buddha states:

When he [a monk] abides contemplating rise and fall in these
five aggregates affected by clinging, the conceit "I am" based on
these five aggregates affected by clinging is abandoned in him....
(Nanamoli & Bodhi, 2001, p. 975.)

In a complementary fashion, in the Buddha's second discourse,
the Anattalakkhana Sutta ("The
Characteristic of Nonself," SN 22:59), the Buddha instructs:

Monks, form is nonself. For if, monks, form were self, this
form would not lead to affliction, and it would be possible to
[manipulate] form [in the following manner]: "Let my form be thus;
let my form not be thus...." [Identical statements are made
regarding feeling, perception, volitional formations and
consciousness.]

Mahayanist perspectives

What does this mean? To what degree is it a departure from the
aforementioned Theravada perspective? Moreover, more generally, how
are the aggregates used in the Mahayana literature? These questions are
addressed below.

In the Theravada canon,[51] when
"emptiness of self" is mentioned, the English word "self" is a
translation of the Pali word
"atta" (Sanskrit, "atman"); in the
Sanskrit-version of the Heart Sutra,[52] the
English word "self" is a translation of the Sanskrit word
"sva-bhava".[53]

That form is empty was one of the Buddha's earliest and most
frequent pronouncements. But in the light of Prajnaparamita, form
is not simply empty, it is so completely empty, it is emptiness
itself, which turns out to be the same as form itself.... All
separations are delusions. But if each of the skandhas is one with
emptiness, and emptiness is one with each of the skandhas, then
everything occupies the same indivisible space, which is
emptiness.... Everything is empty, and empty is everything.[56]

Tangibility and
transcendence

When the sutra says that the five Skandhas have the character
of emptiness ..., the sense is: no limiting qualities are to be
attributed to the Absolute; while it is immanent in all concrete
and particular objects, it is not in itself definable.[57]

That is, from the Mahayana perspective, the aggregates convey
the relative (or
conventional) experience of the world by an individual, although Absolute truth is
realized through them.

The tathagatagarbha sutras, on occasion, speak
of the ineffable skandhas of the Buddha (beyond the nature of
worldly skandhas and beyond worldly understanding), and in the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana
Sutra the Buddha tells of how the Buddha's skandhas are in fact
eternal and unchanging. The Buddha's skandhas are said to be
incomprehensible to unawakened vision.

Vajrayana
perspectives

The Vajrayana tradition further develops the aggregates in terms
of mahamudra
epistemology and tantric
reifications.

The truth of our
insubstantiality

Referring to mahamudra teachings, Chogyam Trungpa
(Trungpa, 2001, pp. 10-12; and, Trungpa, 2002, pp. 124,
133-4) identifies the form aggregate as the "solidification" of ignorance
(Pali, avijja; Skt., avidya), allowing one to
have the illusion of "possessing" ever dynamic and spacious wisdom (Pali, vijja; Skt.
vidya), and thus being the basis for the creation of a dualistic relationship between "self" and
"other."[58]

According to Trungpa Rinpoche (1976, pp. 20-22), the five
skandhas are "a set of Buddhist concepts which describe experience
as a five-step process" and that "the whole development of the five
skandhas...is an attempt on our part to shield ourselves from the
truth of our insubstantiality," while "the practice of meditation
is to see the transparency of this shield." (ibid, p. 23)

Bardo
deity manifestations

Trungpa Rinpoche writes (2001, p. 38):

[S]ome of the details of tantric iconography are developed from
abhidharma [that is, in this context, detailed analysis of the
aggregates]. Different colors and feelings of this particular
consciousness, that particular emotion, are manifested in a
particular deity wearing such-and-such a costume, of certain
particular colors, holding certain particular sceptres in his hand.
Those details are very closely connected with the individualities
of particular psychological processes.

Perhaps it is in this sense that the Tibetan Book of the Dead (Fremantle &
Trungpa, 2003) makes the following associations between the
aggregates and tantric deities during the bardo after death:

The blue light of the skandha of consciousness in its basic
purity, the wisdom of the dharmadhātu, luminous, clear, sharp and
brilliant, will come towards you from the heart of Vairocana and his consort,
and pierce you so that your eyes cannot bear it. [p. 63]

The white light of the skandha of form in its basic purity,
the mirror-like wisdom, dazzling white, luminous and clear, will
come towards you from the heart of Vajrasattva and his consort and pierce you
so that your eyes cannot bear to look at it. [p. 66]

The yellow light of the skandha of feeling in its basic
purity, the wisdom of equality, brilliant yellow, adorned with
discs of light, luminous and clear, unbearable to the eyes, will
come towards you from the heart of Ratnasambhava and his consort and pierce
your heart so that your eyes cannot bear to look at it. [p.
68]

The red light of the skandha of perception in its basic
purity, the wisdom of discrimination, brilliant red, adorned with
discs of light, luminous and clear, sharp and bright, will come
from the heart of Amitābha and his consort and pierce your
heart so that your eyes cannot bear to look at it. Do not be afraid
of it. [p. 70]

The green light of the skandha of concept [samskara] in its
basic purity, the action-accomplishing wisdom, brilliant green,
luminous and clear, sharp and terrifying, adorned with discs of
light, will come from the heart of Amoghasiddhi and his consort and
pierce your heart so that your eyes cannot bear to look at it. Do
not be afraid of it. It is the spontaneous play of your own mind,
so rest in the supreme state free from activity and care, in which
there is no near or far, love or hate. [p. 73]

Relation to other Buddhist
concepts

Other fundamental Buddhist concepts associated with the five
skandhas include:

The first five external sense bases (that is, the
sense objects of visible form, sound, smell, taste and touch) are
part of the form aggregate and the mental sense
object (that is, mental objects) overlap the first four aggregates
(form, feeling,
perception and formation).

The first five internal sense bases (that is, the
sense organs of eye, ear, nose, tongue and body) are also part of
the form aggregate and the mental sense organ
(mind) is comparable to the aggregate of
consciousness. While the benefit of meditating on
the aggregates is overcoming wrong views of the self (since the self is typically identified
with one or more of the aggregates), the benefit of meditation on
the six sense bases is to overcome craving (through restraint and insight into
sense objects that lead to contact, feeling and subsequent
craving).[61]

The Twelve Nidanas describe twelve phenomenal links by which
suffering is perpetuated between and within lives. Embedded within
this model, four of the five aggregates are explicitly mentioned in
the following sequence: mental formations (saṅkhāra)
condition consciousness (viññāṇa) which conditions
name-and-form (nāma-rūpa)[25]
which conditions the precursors (saḷāyatana, phassa) to
sensations (vedanā) which in turn condition craving
(taṇhā) and clinging (upādāna) which ultimately lead to the
"entire mass of suffering" (kevalassa dukkhakkhandha).[62]
Overlaying this chain of conditioning on top of "The Five
Aggregates" diagram at the top of this article, the interplay
between the five-aggregates model of immediate causation and the
twelve-nidana model of requisite conditioning becomes evident, for
instance, underlining the seminal role that mental formations have
in both the origination and cessation of suffering.[63][64]

The eighteen dhatus function through the five aggregates. The
eighteen dhatus can be arranged into six triads, where each triad
is composed of a sense
organ, a sense object and sense consciousness. In regards to
the aggregates:[66]

The first five sense organs (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body) are
derivates of form. The sixth sense organ (mind) is
part of consciousness.

The first five sense objects (visible forms, sound,
smell, taste, touch) are also derivatives of form.
The sixth sense object (mental object) includes
form, sensation,
perception and mental
formations.

The six sense consciousness are the basis for
consciousness.

References in Buddhist
literature

The table below briefly cites Buddhist primary sources that
characterize different aspects of the aggregates. This table is by
no means exhaustive.

See also

Notes

^
Thanissaro (2002). Also see, for example, Thanissaro (2005) where
khandha is translated as "mass" in the phrase
dukkhakkhandha (which Thanissaro translates as "mass of
stress") and Thanissaro (1998) where khandha is translated
as "aggregate" but in terms of bundling the Noble
Eightfold Path into the categories of virtue
(silakkhandha), concentration (samadhikkhandha)
and wisdom (pannakkhandha).

^
In Rawson (1991: p.11), the first skandha is defined as: "name and
form (Sanskrit nāma-rūpa, Tibetan gzugs)...". In
the Pali
literature, nāma-rūpa traditionally refers to the
first four aggregates, as opposed to the fifth aggregate,
consciousness.

^
External and internal manifestations of rupa are
described, for instance, in Bodhi (2000b), p. 48.

^
In these definitions, "object" refers to either a cognized form
(what Western epistemologists might refer to as "sense data") or a
mental expression, such as a cognized memory.

^
The Pali canon universally identifies that vedana involves
the sensing or feeling of something as pleasant or unpleasant or
neutral (see, for instance, SN 22). When contemporary authors
elaborate on vedana, they define it similarly (see, for
instance, Nhat Hanh, 1999, p. 178; Trungpa, 2001, p.
21; and, Trungpa, 2002, p. 126). The one exception is in Trungpa
(1976), pp. 20-23, where he states that the "strategies or
impluses" of "indifference, passion and aggression" are "part of
the third stage [aggregate]," "guided by perception." (This section
of Trungpa, 1976, is anthologized in Trungpa, 1999, pp.
55-58.)

^
Generally, vedanā is considered to not include
"emotions." For example, Bodhi (2000a), p. 80, writes: "The Pali
word vedanā does not signify emotion (which appears to be
a complex phenomenon involving a variety of concomitant mental
factors), but the bare affective quality of an experience, which
may be either pleasant, painful or neutral." Perhaps somewhat
similarly, Trungpa (1999), p.58, writes: "Consciousness [the fifth
aggregate] consists of emotions and irregular thought patterns...."
And Trungpa (2001), p. 32, notes: "In this case 'feeling' is not
quite our ordinary notion of feeling. It is not the feeling we take
so seriously as, for instance, when we say, 'He hurt my feelings.'
This kind of feeling that we take so seriously belongs to the
fourth and fifth skandhas of concept and consciousness."

^
According to the Visuddhimagga XIV.82, the Pali terms viññāṇa, citta and
mano are synonymous (Buddhaghosa, 1999, p. 453). However,
Trungpa (2001, p. 73) distinguishes between viññāṇa and citta, stating
that viññāṇa (consciousness) is
"articulated and intelligent" while citta (mind) is a
"simple instinctive function .... very direct, simple and subtle at
the same time."

^
In commenting on the use of "consciousness" in SN 22.3[1], Bodhi (2000b),
pp. 1046-7, n. 18, states:

"The passage confirms the privileged status of consciousness
among the five aggregates. While all the aggregates are conditioned
phenomena marked by the three
characteristics, consciousness serves as the connecting thread
of personal continuity through the sequence of
rebirths.... The other four aggregates serve as the 'stations for
consciousness' (vinnanatthitiyo: see [SN] 22:53-54). Even
consciousness, however, is not a self-identical entity but a
sequence of dependently arisen occasions of cognizing; see MN I
256-60."

^
This conception of consciousness is found in the Theravada Abhidhamma (Bodhi, 2000a, p. 29).

^
While not necessarily contradicted by the Nikayas, this is a
particularly Mahayana
statement. For instance, Nhat Hanh (1999, pp. 180-1) states:
"Consciousness here means store
consciousness, which is at the base of everything we are, the
ground of all of our mental formations." Similarly, Trungpa (2001,
pp. 73-4) states that consciousness "is the finally developed state
of being that contains all the previous elements....
[C]onsciousness constitutes an immediately available source of
occupation for the momentum of the skandhas to feed on."

^
This is in reference to discourses particularly focusing on the
five aggregates, as in the Khandha-saṃyutta (SN, ch. 22). Individual
aggregates are provided an overlapping but somewhat different
relationship in terms of "dependent origination" (Pali:
paticca-samuppāda) and other canonical frameworks; for
related information, see the "Relation to other
Buddhist concepts" section below.

^
For instance, see MN 109: "Monk, the four great existents (earth,
water, fire, and wind) are the cause, the four great existents the
condition, for the delineation of the aggregate of form" (Thanissaro, 2001b). Also
see SN 22.56: "The four great elements and the form derived from
the four great elements: this is called form" (Bodhi, 2000b, p.
895). For more information regarding "the four great elements," see
the "Mahābhūta".

^
See, for instance, SN 35.93: "The meeting, the encounter, the
concurrence of these three things [eye, form and eye-consciousness]
is called eye-contact...." (Bodhi, 2000b, p. 1172).

^
In addition to referring to the five form-derived
sense faculties (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body), their associated
objects and consciousness, phassa also pertains to these
aspects of mentality (nama): mind, mind
objects and mind-consciousness. In the Abhidhamma (e.g., see
Bodhi, 2000a, p. 78), phassa is a mental factor, the means
by which consciousness "touches" an object.

^
Traditional Buddhist texts do not directly address Western
philosophy's so-called mind-body
problem since in Buddhism the exploration of the aggregates is
not primarily to ascertain ultimate empirical reality but to obtain
ultimate release from suffering.

^
See, for instance, MN 109: "Contact is the cause, contact the
condition, for the delineation of the aggregate of feeling. Contact
is the cause, contact the condition, for the delineation of the
aggregate of perception. Contact is the cause, contact the
condition, for the delineation of the aggregate of fabrications" (Thanissaro, 2001b). Also
see SN 22.56: "With the arising of contact there is the arising of
feeling.... With the arising of contact there is the arising of
perception.... With the arising of contact there is the arising of
volitional formations...." (Bodhi, 2000b, p. 896).

^
A mental aggregate arises either from conscious contact with form
or from another mental aggregate (Bodhi, 2000a, pp. 78ff).

^
See, for instance, SN 35.93: "In dependence on the mind and mental
phenomena there arises mind-consciousness" (Bodhi, 2000b, p. 1172).
More broadly, see, for instance, SN 22.56: "With the arising of
name-and-form [nāmarūpa] there is the arising of
consciousness" (Bodhi, 2000b, p. 897); and, MN 109:
"Name-&-form is the cause, name-&-form the condition, for
the delineation of the aggregate of consciousness" (Thanissaro, 2001b). In
the Canon, nāmarūpa often refers to the four aggregates
other than consciousness (e.g., cf. the relationship between
consciousness and nāmarūpa in DN 15 [Thanissaro, 1997a] and MN 38).

^ ab
Form and the mental aggregates together are technically referred to
as nāmarūpa,
which is variously defined as "name-and-form,"
"materiality-mentality" and "matter-mind." Bodhi (2000b), pp.
47-48, mentions that Ñāṇamoli translated nāmarūpa as
"mentality-materiality," which Bodhi assesses to be "[i]n some
respects ... doctrinally more accurate, but it is also
unwieldy...." Bodhi goes on to note that, "in the Nikāyas,
nāmarūpa does not include consciousness (viññāṇa)."

^
According to Bodhi (2000b), p. 48, based on suttas in SN 14,
consciousness "can operate only in dependenece on a physical body
(rūpa) and in conjunction with its constellation of
concomitants (nāma); conversely, only when consciousness
is present can a compound of material elements function as a
sentient body and the mental concomitants participate in
cognition." Also, for example, see the Nagara Sutta ("The City," SN
12:65) (Thanissaro, 1997b),
where the Buddha in part states: "[F]rom name-&-form as a
requisite condition comes consciousness, from consciousness as a
requisite condition comes name-&-form."

^
For an example of this unidirectional, linear causal model, see
Trungpa (2001), pp. 36-37, where, in part, he states: "The first
flash is the form and the next, feeling. As you flash further and
further, the content becomes more and more involved. When you flash
perception, that contains feeling and form; when you flash
consciousness that contains all the other four."

^
Kalupahana (1975), page 78. The passage is found at S 1.135, and
also in the agamas.

[T]he analysis into the aggregates undertaken in the Nikayas is
not pursued with the aim of reaching an objective, scientific
understanding of the human being along the lines pursued by
physiology and psychology.... For the Buddha, investigation into
the nature of personal existence always remains subordinate to the
liberative thrust of the Dhamma....

The [Pāli] canon depicts the Buddha as saying that he taught
only two topics: suffering and the end of suffering (SN 22.86[4]). A survey of
the Pali discourses shows him using the concept of the khandhas to
answer the primary questions related to those topics: What is
suffering? How is it caused? What can be done to bring those causes
to an end?

In other words, Theravada practitioners do not see the notion of
the aggregates as providing an absolute truth about ultimate
reality or as a map of the mind, but instead as providing a tool
for understanding how our method of apprehending sensory
experiences and the self can lead to either our own suffering or to
our own liberation.

^
Noa Ronkin, Early Buddhist Metaphysics: the Making of a
Philosophical Tradition." Routledge, 2005, page 43.

^
Note that, in Buddhism, one clings to (or guards)
something one possesses (or believes one possesses) whereas one
craves (searches) for something one lacks. (See the
articles on upadana and tanha for references.) Thus, the notion of
the "clinging aggregates" refers to things with which we
identify or which we think we can possess. When, instead, one
desires such, it is technically craving, not
clinging.

^
In the Sutta Pitaka and Abhidhamma Pitaka, there are four types of
clinging: (1) clinging to sensual pleasure;
(2) clinging to wrong views; (3) clinging to rites and ceremonies;
and, (4) clinging to a doctrine of self. (For references, see the
article on upadana.) By definition, the
fourth type of clinging (clinging to a doctrine of self) involves
having one or more of twenty possible identity views
(sakkayaditthi). The twenty identity views are beliefs in:

form is self, is possessed by self, is
in self; contains self.

sensation is self, is possessed by self,
is in self; contains self.

perception is self, is possessed by self,
is in self; contains self.

mental formation is self, is possessed by
self, is in self; contains self.

consciousness is self, is possessed by self,
is in self; contains self.

In other words, references to "clinging" in terms of the aggregates
generally refer to "clinging to a doctrine of self."

^
For a more body-specific meditation method for developing
detachment from bodily forms, see Patikulamanasikara.

^
Unlike the Satipatthana Sutta, the classic Anapanasati
Sutta ("Mindfulness of Breathing Discourse," MN 118) does
not directly reference the aggregates. However, the Pali
literature includes works that interpret the Anapanasati
Sutta in light of the aggregates. In the
Patisambhidāmagga: The Khuddaka Nikaya's book, the
Patisambhidāmagga ("The Path of Analysis"), includes an analysis of
the following meditative instruction (first tetrad, third
instruction) from the Anapanasati Sutta:

He trains himself, "I will breathe in sensitive to the entire
body." He trains himself, "I will breathe out sensitive to the
entire body." (Thanissaro, trans., 2006.)

Body: There are two bodies—the mentality-body and the
materiality body.

Feeling, perception, volition, sense-impression,
attention—mentality and the mentality of the body—and those
(things) which are called the mental formations—this is the
mentality body.

The four great primaries and the materiality derived from the
four great primaries—in-breath and out-breath and the sign for the
binding (of mindfulness)—and those (things) which are called the
bodily formationsthis is the materiality body.

In other words, the Patisambhidāmagga frames the practice of the
Anapanasati Sutta's third step as a contemplation of the five
aggregates.

The Visuddhimagga's analysis of the
Anapanasatti Sutta includes an analysis of the following meditative
instruction (fourth tetrad, first instruction) from the Anapanasati
Sutta:

He trains himself, "I will breathe in focusing on
inconstancy." He trains himself, "I will breathe out focusing on
inconstancy." (Thanissaro, trans., 2006.)

In regards to this instruction, the Visuddhimagga (Buddhaghosa, 1999, pp.
282-3; see also Ñāṇamoli, 1998, p. 40) advises one to apprehend
"inconstancy" (or "impermanence") as meaning the following:

Herein, the five aggregates are "the impermanent". Why?
Because their essence is rise and fall and change. "Impermanence"
is the rise and fall and change in those same aggregates, or it is
their non-existence after having been....

Impermanence (anicca) is a characteristic common to all
aggregates. This impermanence will lead to suffering (dukkha) if we identify with the
aggregate. To avoid such suffering, the suttas instruct us to see
the aggregates as the selfless (anatta) objects they are.

^
Bodhi (2000b, pp. 743, n. 58) points out that this formula for
aggregate-contemplation can also be found in SN 12.21, 12.23,
22.78, 22.89 and 22.101, as well as MN 122.

^
That meditation creates a space between the aggregates (including
clinging) is a readily accessible
meditation experience. For a published authoritative statement
regarding this experience, see, for example, Trungpa (2001), pp.
85-86, where in response to a student's query he replies: "By
meditating you are slowing down the process. When it has slowed
down, the skandhas are no longer pushed against one another. There
is space there, already there."

^
According to Nattier (1992), the Heart Sutra was originally
composed in Chinese and later back-translated into Sanskrit.
Thereafter, it became popular in India and later Tibet. As
indicated in an endnote further below, elements in this translation
are not present in Chinese versions of this sutra.

^
Red Pine (2005), p.2. See also Nhat Hanh (1988), p. 1, and Suzuki
(1960), p. 26. Nhat Hanh (1988) adds to this first verse the
sentence: "After this penetration, he overcame all pain." Suzuki
(1960), p. 29, notes that this additional sentence is unique to
Hsuan-chuang's translation and is omitted in other versions of the
Heart Sutra.

To judge from the suttas, the term sabhāva
was never employed by the Buddha and it is rare in the Pali Canon
in general. Only in the post-canonical period does it become a
standard concept, when it is extensively used in the commentarial
descriptions of the dhammas [conditioned mental and
physical processes] and in the sub-commentarial exegesis. The term
sabhāva, though, does occur on various occasions in five
canonical or para-canonical texts: the Paṭisambhidāmagga, the Peṭakopadesa, the Nettippakaraṇa, the Milindapañha and the Buddhavaṃsa.

Gal (p. 10) speculates that the use of the term sabhāva in
the Paṭisambhidāmagga might be the
earliest occurrence in Pali literature and quotes (p. 7, esply.
n. 28) from this text (Paṭis. II 178) the application of the
phrase sabhāvena suññaṃ (Pali for "empty of
sabhāva") to each of the aggregates — at least
superficially similar to an application of svabhāva in the
Prajnaparamita Hridaya Sutra ("Heart Sutra") cited in this
article.

^
Note that Chinese versions of the Heart Sutra do not
contain the notion of svabhava.

^
While Red Pine (2004) contextualizes the Prajnaparamita texts as a
historical reaction to some early Buddhist Abhidhammas,
some interpretations of the Theravada Abhidhamma are
consistent with the prajnaparamita notion of
"emptiness."

^
Put another way, it is through the five skandhas that clinging
occurs. See, for instance, the Samadhi Sutta (SN 22:5) (Thanissaro, 2006b).

^
The apparent distinctions between the nidana model and the khandha
model are reduced when, instead of using the twelve-nidana model of
the Samyutta
Nikaya, chapter 12 (e.g., Thanissaro,
1997d), one compares the nine-nidana model of the
Maha-nidana Sutta (DN 15) (Thanissaro, 1997a) where
consciousness conditions name-and-form and name-and-form conditions
consciousness.

^
Bodhi (2000b, pp. 839-840) writes: "Whereas the teaching on
dependent origination is intended to disclose the dynamic pattern
running through everyday experience that propels the round of
rebirth and death forward from life to life, the teaching on the
five aggregates concentrates on experience in its lived immediacy
in the continuum from birth to death." Perhaps in a similar vein,
Bodhi (2000b, pp. 762-3, n. 132) notes elsewhere that, according to
the Samyutta Nikaya's subcommentary: "There are two kinds of
origin, momentary origin (khanika-samudaya) and
origin through conditions (paccaya-samudaya). A bhikkhu
who sees one sees the other."

^
The Pāli word dhātu is used in multiple contexts in the Pāli
canon: For instance, Bodhi (2000b), pp. 527-8, identifies four
different ways that dhātu is used including in terms of
the "eighteen elements" and in terms of "the four primary elements"
(catudhātu).

^
Bodhi (2000b, p. 1070, n. 110) points out and Thanissaro (2001a,
nn. 1 and 2) suggests that this definition is at least in part
"word play" related to the homophonic (non-etymological)
correspondence between the Pāli words for "form" (rūpa)
and "afflicted" (ruppati).

^
Regarding SN 22.79's typifying perception (saññā) through
visual colors and consciousness (viññāṇa) through assorted tastes,
Bodhi (2000b, p. 1072, n. 114) mentions tha the Samyutta Nikaya's
subcommentary states that perception grasps appearances and shapes
while consciousness "can grasp particular distinctions in an object
even when there is no appearance and shape." Similarly, in the
Visuddhimagga (Buddhaghosa, 1999, pp. 435-6), there is an extended
analogy about a child, an adult villager and an expert
"money-changer" seeing a heap of coins; the child's experience is
analogous to perception, the villager's experience to
consciousness, and the money-changer's experience to understanding
(paňňā).

^
Consistent with MN 109's distinguishing between vinnāna
and nāmarūpa, Bodhi (2000b, p. 48; also see Bodhi, 2005a,
p. 447, n.19) states: "Nāma is the assemblage of mental
factors involved in cognition: feeling, perception, volition,
contact and attention (vedanā, sanna, cetanā, phassa,
manasikāra...).... [I]n the Nikāyas, nāmarūpa does
not include consciousness (vinnāna). Consciousness is its
condition, and the two are mutually dependent...."

^
Of the 89 kinds of consciousness, 54 are of the "sense sphere"
(related to the five physical senses as well as craving for sensual
pleasure), 15 of the "fine-material sphere" (related to the
meditative absorptions based on material objects), 12 of the
"immaterial sphere" (related to the immaterial meditative
absorptions), and eight are supramundane (related to the
realization of Nibbāna) (Bodhi, 2000a, pp. 28-31).